
Class ^SJB. 






COPyRIGHT DEPOSm 



I 





Abiah W. Bussey 



THE COSMIC PLAN 



OR 



The Purpose of Creation and the 
Plan for Accomplishing It 



BY 



ABIAH W. BUSSEY, B. L. 

w 

Pastor of Baptist Churcht Martint Georgia 



Published by the Author 



Price 85 Cents 



From the Press of The Star, Elberton, Ca. 
J9J5 






u^ 



(Application for Copyright Pending — 1915.) 



©CI,A4n6680 

JUL 121915 






DEDICATION 

To his parents for their pious tutelage and 
worthy example; and to the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary for its helpful instruc- 
tion, this volume is respectfully dedicated by 
the author as a modest token of his apprecia- 
tion. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

PREFACE 

CHAPTER !I 1 

The Motive of Creation; Some Rea- 
sons for Believing the Bible is a 
IDivine Message to all Mankind. 

CHAPTER 11 16 

Suggested Answers to Common Ob- 
jections to the Bible. Inspiration, 
Etc. 

CHAPTER M 31 

The Incarnation as Seen From Two 
Viewpoints. 

CHAPTER IV 40 

The New Birth, It's Necessity; 
Heaven and How to Get There. 

CHAPTER V 60 

New Birth, It's Nature; Why Salva- 
tion is Conditioned on Faith. 

CHAPTER VI 59 

God's Benevolence. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

(Continued) 

CHAlPTER VII 69 

Affliction; Why Good People Have 
Much Trouble While the Wicked are 
Allowed Pleasure and Prosperity. 

CHAPTER Villi 79 

Missions; is the Heathen Responsi- 
ble? Modern Mission Methods. 

CHAPTER IX 102 

The Final State of the Ungodly; 
is Hell Compatible With a Merciful 
God? 

CHAPTER X 110 

'Duration of Future Punishment. 

CHAPTER XI 124 

(Immortality and Suggested iProba- 
bilities of Heaven. 

SUMMARY 140 



INTRODUCTION 

It is with pleasure that I comply with the 
request of the modest author of this volume 
to write an introductory word to his first effort 
to get the attention of the public through the 
printed page. 

I hold Mr. Bussey in high regard as a stu- 
dent and minister of the Word It was my 
privilege to know him in the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., as a 
former pupil. He graduated at Furman Uni- 
versity, Greenville, S. C, in 1900, at the age 
of twenty. He has had ten years valuable 
experience in teaching school, having taught 
for some years in Gibson-Mercer Academy, 
Bowman, Ga. 

He was ordained to the Gospel Ministry in 
1906, and attended the Southern Baptist 
Theological Seminary 1907-08. 

For seven years he has been pastor of the 
Baptist church at Martin, Ga., where his la- 
bors are being crowned with success. When- 
ever opportunity is presented, he is heard 
with delight in this city, where he is well 
known and where his father is a useful min- 
ister of the Gospel. 



In this volume, Mr. Bussey deals with sev- 
eral of the vital problems of divine revelation 
and human life in a direct, practical manner. 
What he says will be easily understood, for 
he does not darken counsel with words. 

His message will help those who give it a 
fair chance at their minds and hearts. 

Byron H. DeMent, 
Pastor First Baptist Church. 
Greenwood, S. C, March 11, 1915. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

Nearly every individual of each succeeding 
generation is more or less concerned about 
the truths that are discussed in this volume. 
How to interpret God's dealings v^ith this 
v^orld is a query that interests every respon- 
sible being. So the author has ventured to 
discuss some of these with the hope of sug- 
gesting answers to some of the common 
questions that continually arise. 

The theme is all-embracing, and nothing but 
a foolish presumption or a wild imagination 
could prompt one to undertake to be either 
exhaustive or authoritative in his treatment 
of it. To be suggestive is as much as could 
be hoped for in handHng such a subject. Only 
those parts of the Cosmic Plan that are com- 
monly called into question at the present day 
are discussed. Many others might be inter- 
esting but not so essential. 

The views set forth are necessarily from 
the author's viewpoint. But he has endeav- 
ored to be consistent with the premises that 
are well nigh universally conceded. The de- 
ductions are such as have given a degree of 
satisfaction to his mind and hereon his hope 
is based that others may find anchorage also. 



Directness in expression is sought more 
than technical accuracy in statement. Abrupt 
transitions are due to a desire for brevity. 

Grateful acknowledgement is hereby made 
to Rev. Marcus Dods for helpful suggestions 
from him on the Incarnation. 

With faith in the pov^er of the truth to win 
its way with those who give it a chance, the 
author sends forth this modest volume hoping 
it may be a blessing to all who read it. 

Abiah W. Bussey. 



I 



CHAPTER I. 

The Motive of Creation. Some Rea- 
sons FOR Beweving the Bible is a 
Divine Message to All Mankind. 

Some seem to think that the entire sys- 
tem of the Christian religion is based on 
the Bible as its sole ground of acceptance 
with men. And that the basis for belief 
in the Bible consists only of the claims it 
makes for itself. It is thus in their view 
put on a par with all other creeds. 

Yet the Bible is not the only support of 
the Christian faith; neither are the claims 
of Christ the only confirmation the Bible 
has. The revelations recorded in the Bi- 
ble, including the Incarnation, beautifully 
blend with our intuition and reason. But 



2 THE COSMIC PLAN 

a firmer foundation tban even this under- 
lies the Christian's creed. In so far as 
these revelations can be tested by human 
experience they ring true to that touch- 
stone of truth. 

Most people in Christian lands believe 
the Bible in early life because they are 
taught to believe it. Their implicit faith 
takes in the whole book without knowing 
its contents. Later the facts of the book 
are learned and are accepted without ques- 
tion by virtue of the momentum of their 
first teachings. 

As the years of maturity approach and 
the intellectual side of man asserts itself 
more stronglj^ a process of adjustment 
sets in. The Bible at this period comes 
in for its share of criticism. In the light 
of reason (said light in many instances 
being not very clear nor illuminating) 



THE COSMIC PLAN 3 

many of its precepts are rejected.* But in- 
tuition makes them hold to some as facts 
when reason sees no cause. 

Still later when the dreams of youth 
have faded, and the. theories of inexpe- 
rienced years collapse under the pressure 
of the realities of life, man turns again to 
the Bible for readjustment. Some rejected 
teachings are picked up again and much 
mental luggage is discarded. The convic- 
tion gradually grows on him that the 
Bible is true. Although reason fails to 
furnish the confirmation he desires, the 
confirmation comes from a source unex- 
plained. 

During these two periods of investiga- 
tions (which in many instances are very 
informal and even unconscious) much de- 
pends on early training, environment, and 

(*Here we see the need of Christian Schools.) 



4 THE COSMIC PLAN 

sincerity. Intuition plays a part of course 
but its voice can be drowned by temporary 
conditions. 

There is a class of facts recorded in the 
Bible which men believe because they are 
inevitable conclusions of the mind and it 
is therefore impossible to believe their 
contradiction. They would be believed 
had there been no Bible. Among these 
are: an adequate cause of creation, His 
essential attributes and so on. 

In contemplating- the origin of things 
the mind can find no resting place until it 
assumes a first cause. However distaste- 
ful such an assumption may be there is no 
escape from it. The First Cause of crea- 
tion could have no cause else it would not 
be the first one. Since the First Cause 
could have no cause it must be self-exist- 
ent and therefore eternal. Eternity of 



THE COSMIC PLAN 5 

the First Cause involves His independ- 
ence of all things outside Himself. Hence 
He has no limitations except those that 
are self imposed. 

A God, His eternity, His infinity in 
power and wisdom, are all essentially con- 
nected with the primal idea of the begin- 
ning of things and in full accord with the 
Bible. 

Before creation, when nothing existed 
but God, all that was done must have 
been done not only by Him but for Him. 
Therefore, the only ultimate object of 
creation that is conceivable is the glory of 
the Creator. 

The relation between the different 
grades of created things points to the 
same conclusion. There is an evident 
design that the higher orders shall be 
supported and promoted by the sacrifice of 



6 THE COSMIC PLAN 

the lower orders. It is observed from the 
inorganic strength of minerals thru vege 
table life on into animal life. 

Vegetables feed on minerals, animals 
teed on vegetables and higher animals on 
lower animals. All contribute to the 
good and glory of man who in turn is ex- 
pected by the same law of self sacrifice to 
glorify God. The lower orders furnish 
not merely the sustenance of the higher 
but contribute to their comfort and pleas- 
ure. The cow eats grass, drinks water 
and lies down in the shade of the tree. 
Domestic animals contribute much to the 
comfort and convenience of man besides 
what they furnish to his pantry. This 
law is seen in force everywhere and all 
the time in some degree.* 

We conclude therefore that the evident 
♦This law seems reversed in the atonement. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 7 

purpose in creation must have been the 
glory of the Creator. In keeping with 
this purpose we see many designs for its 
accomplishment as well as many confirm- 
ations of a belief in it. 

Such a purpose accounts for man's abil- 
ity to contemplate God. It also furnishes 
a reason for man's being instinctively re- 
ligious. God gave him that instinct as a 
guarantee that he would always acknowl- 
edge a higher order oi being than himself 
though he might not understand Him. 

Under these conditions it is natural to 
expect some communication from God to 
Man, Such would increase bis power to 
glorify God and more incline him to do so. 

A part of this communication is found 
in the natural world about us. Thru this 
medium we have a message that verifies 
the conclusion reason had furnished. The 



8 THE COSMIC PLAN 

vastness of space above us inspires us with 
a sense of the Creator^s power and magni- 
tude; while the variety and completeness 
of life about us makes us know of His in- 
finite wisdom. These lines of His mes- 
sage have gone thruout the earth and are 
read of all men, though of course compre- 
hended in varying degrees. 

Yet a very meagre idea of the character 
of God is obtainable in this way. And 
character is the highest incentive to honor. 
Therefore He who would invoke our sin- 
cerest homage and devotion would hardly 
leave us in ignorance of His character. 

The sacred writings of the various sys- 
tems of religion claim to contain a revela- 
tion of His character and will. It would be 
very presumptive to say that the ancient 
Hebrew people were the only ones who 
ever received revelations from God. He 



THE COSMIC PLAN 9 

may have at sundry times and in divers 
ways convej^ed to men besides the ancient 
Jews some of His plans and purposes. He 
doubtless has had a hand in the move- 
ments of all the nations and influenced 
their destiny. The heathen nations of 
today most likely once knew Him and had 
revelations from Him Yet there are 
special reasons for believing that the Bible 
is God's message to all men. 

Whatever of knowledge the heathen 
world may once have had of God has not 
been kept in its original purity. As the 
conduct of the people in each case became 
corrupt their ideas and ideals were like- 
wise corrupted by the law of adaptation. 
And what each one has left is but a dis- 
torted image of the original. 

In spite of the shortcomings of the an- 
cient Hebrews they preserved to the 



10 THE COSMIC PLAN 

world the basic idea of the essential unity 
of God. On this was based the New Tes- 
tament idea of the universal brotherhood 
of man, an adequate atonement, and an 
open invitation to all. Any book that de- 
nies these forfeits its claims to being the 
word of God. For their denial is incon- 
sistent with His essential attributes and 
is contradictory to His most evident pur- 
pose of creation. 

Among the reasons why the Bible must 
be regarded as a credible book are the fol- 
lowing: 

1. It is corroborated by its contempo- 
raries. For example, the Bible tells of an 
invasion of Judah bj^ the army of Senach- 
arib, king of Syria. The excavations of 
recent years have revealed the records of 
the Assyrians analists which confirm and 
supplement the Bible story. Additional 



THE COSMIC PLAN 11 

testimony to the reliability of the Bible 
narratives is being continually unearthed 
from the buried cities of bygone days. 
Corroboration from disinterested sources 
speaks much for the reliability of any 
book.* 

2. It is supported by our sense of jus- 
tice and right. Bible standards of moral- 
ity meet with the conscious approval of 
the best people everywhere. This fact 
sustains its credibility on moral questions. 

3. Its precepts are verified by human 

experience. Wherever its principles are 

tested they are in full accord with human 

*Even since this book has gone to the press newspa- 
pers bring the tiding of the recent discovery of an an- 
cient Babylonian record which corroborates many of 
the statements made in the Old Testament relative to 
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B. C). It is a 
cylinder containing cuneiform characters and was found 
at the ruins of Marad, south of Babylon, by Arabs who 
were digging for ancient brick with which to construct 
modern irrigation works. It has been placed in the 
Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio. 



12 THE COSMIC PLAN 

experience. Take for example the New 
Testament teaching in regard to the 
means of attaining the fullness of life, 
^^He that loseth his life shall find it/^ The 
law of self sacrifice is the law of life in 
every sphere. This we know by observa- 
tion and experience. 

4. Its honesty is attested by the fact 
that it does not conceal the weak points of 
its various heroes. 

If the credibility of the Bible in regard 
to historical facts is sustained by its con- 
temporaries; its code of morals approved 
by the best people everywhere; and its 
teachings on vital principles stand the test 
of human experience, it surely should be 
counted worthy of being believed. 

One claim the Bible makes for itself is 
a divine origin. The fact that its claim in 
other particulars seems trustworthy should 



THE COSMIC PLAN 13 

lend credence to this one also. But there 
are other reasons for believing^ in its in- 
spiration . 

1. There is a marked unity thruout 
the Bible in spite of the varied conditions 
under which the parts were written. Also 
the various writers, tho vastly separated 
in time and intelligence, show a consis- 
tency with one another and with the au- 
thenticated facts of history of their times 
that can be accounted for only by recog- 
nizing a guiding Providence in them all. 

2. The New Testament shows an orig- 
inality of conception that was beyond the 
ken of the wisest men of that day. Who 
would think the humble Galilean fisher- 
men could have ever concocted a scheme 
like that set forth in *^The Sermon on the 
Mount^? A kingdom with no race dis- 
tinctions, no territorial limitations, no mil- 



14 THE COSMIC PLAN 

itary conquest, but a kingdom founded on 
character. This was not only radically 
different from anything set forth up to 
that time but it was in direct opposition to 
all the accepted notions of a kingdom in 
that day. The supposed Son of the Naza- 
rene carpenter, if possessed of only human 
wisdom, could never have encountered the 
opposing ideas of His day wath so much 
confidence and declared with clearness the 
principles of true government that later 
centuries have proven to be true. 

3. Another evidence of the divine ori- 
gin of the Bible is its fruitage in the form 
of human happiness and liberty. Always 
in its wake are found freedom, enlighten- 
ment, love and hope. In its absence are 
found ignorance, oppression, superstition 
and strife. 

4. Prophecy fulfilled. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 15 

Thi.se facts summed up and added to 
the trustworthiness of the Bible already 
observed, form good grounds for accepting 
the Book at its face value. It indeed ap- 
pears to meet the uniirersal expectancy of 
a divine message to mankind. 



CHAPTER II. 

Suggested Answers to Common Ob- 
jections TO THE Bible. Inspir- 
ation, Etc. 

In the face of the foregoing reasons 
some say they see weak points in the 
Bible's claims to a divine origin. 

The three -particulars cited by them as 
a basis for their contention are as follows: 

1. The Bible portrays the character as 
being cruel. 

2. The Bible language is in places 
vulgar. 

3. The different Bible narratives con- 
tradict each other. 

These are grave charges and should be 
taken seriously if they are based on tena- 
ble grounds. Therefore they should be 
candidly examined. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 17 

Cruelty is thot to be seen in the Israel- 
itish wars which God commanded the 
people to wage and in which He mani- 
fested His power for the destruction of 
His enemies. The incident recorded in 
Joshua 10:8 11 may be cited as an exam- 
ple of such cruelty. The Bible tells of 
several such interventions in Israel's be- 
half. Also it is claimed that it records 
that deeds of cruelty were committed by 
the people in obedience to a direct com- 
mand of God, such as 1 Sam. 15:3. These 
are their grounds for saying the Bible 
portrays God as a cruel character. 

To draw such a conclusion one has to 
ignore some very important considera- 
tions. 

War cannot be regarded as a normal 
product of man's better nature, but is one 
of the natural consequences of the depraved 



18 THE COSMIC PLAN 

condition of human society. An ulcer 
that becomes too bad will burst of itself. 
To charge God with causing war would 
be like charging the surgeon who lanced 
the ulcer with causing the putrefaction it 
contained. That Jehovah has directed 
armies and aided in the overthrow of Is- 
rael's enemies none would deny. Since 
human depravity made wars inevitable 
and He is interested in all that concerns 
His creatures, why should it be thot un- 
kind in Him to intervene in behalf of jus- 
tice? For Him to lead His followers in 
triumphant conflict against those who fol- 
lowed other gods was a sure way to estab- 
lish His superiority in the minds of His 
people, especially in a day when force was 
the unit of measurement. 

Using an army to wipe out a wicked 
influence could hardly be considered more 



THE COSMIC PLAN 19 

cruel than the flood, and the Bible storj^ 
of the flood is well corroborated even in 
pagan literature. 

Cruelty is a flexible term. Its force 
varies directly with the merits of the vic- 
tim, which can be determined only by one 
who knows every motive and attitude on 
both sides. Who knows today that the 
foe in each case did not deserve the treat- 
ment it received, at least to the extent 
that the innocent have to suffer with the 
guilty? 

The general impression the Bible con- 
veys regarding the character of God is 
that of kindness rather than of cruel- 
ty. Many specific precepts favor this im- 
pression, such as the following: 

^'As I live saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked; 



20 THE COSMIC PLAN 

but that the wicked turn from his way 
and live: . . . .'^ Ez. 33:11. 

^^I will heal their backslidiugs, I will 
love them freely for mine anger is turned 
away from him/' Hos. 14:4. 

^^For God so loved the world that He 
gave His only begotten Son/' etc, John 
3:16. 

^*He that loveth not knoweth not God; 
for God is love.'' 1 John 4:8. 

It appears from these and numerous 
other passages of a similar tone that the 
Bible portrays a God of kindness rather 
than of cruelty. 

The songs of Solomon are thot by some 
to be vulgar, also the records of the fam- 
ily affairs of some of the children of Judah. 

Those who claim to be familiar with 
the literature of Solomon's time say that 
the language of the Songs of Solomon 



THE COSMIC PLAN 21 

would be considered very chaste in com- 
parison with much of the standard litera- 
ture of that day. 

What is called vulgar in some company 
is considered decent among- others. To a 
coarse and unrefined nature everj/thing 
suggestive of vulgarity is construed as 
such. One censoring the language of a 
physician in making a thoro physical ex- 
amination for restorative purposes would 
use a different standard from that used in 
censoring the language of a parlor, even 
with the same people present. Language 
is classed as vulgar when it expresses or 
suggests a thot that is impure or unclean. 
However, its suggestiveness is more de- 
pendent upon the mind of the hearer or 
reader than upon what is said or written. 
There is much truth in the adage that 
says, *'What people see is determined as 



22 THE COSMIC PLAN 

much by what is behind the eyes as by 
what is before them/' It may be consid- 
ered an open question whether or not any 
language can rightly be classed as vulgar 
that is appropriate to the expression of a 
pure thot or a chaste idea. 

Skeptics claim to see many contradic- 
tory statements in the New Testament 
narratives. One clear case they claim is 
found in the various accounts of the visit 
of the women to the tomb on the morning 
of the resurrection. Mark says in 16:2, 
^^and very early on the first day of the 
week they come to the tomb when the sun 
was risen.'' Luke 24:1 says, ^^But on the 
first day of the week, at early dawn, they 
came to the tomb." John 20:1 says, ^^Now 
on the first day of the week cometh Mary 
Magdalene early while it was yet dark, 
unto the tomb." The statement of Mark, 



THE COSMIC PLAN 23 

^^When the sun was risen," seems espe- 
cially inconsistent with John's assertion, 
^^While it was yet dark.'' They evidently 
had reference to the same occasion. So 
the question arises, ^^Can both be true?" 
Where was Mark that morning? One 
would naturally suppose he was at home. 
Where was John? It is very probable that 
he was at Bethany, two or three miles 
from Jerusalem; as he had evidently spent 
every night of the passover week there 
except Thursday night. Where were the 
women who are spoken of? They too 
were probably at Bethany, the headquar- 
ters of the Galilean party. For Luke tells 
us in 23:55 they were Galilean women 
and had accompanied Christ and his dis- 
ciples on this trip. Supposing they had 
left Bethany under these conditions about 
daybreak or just before, which would be 



24 THE COSMIC PLAN 

iu keeping with John's statement that ^'It 
was yet dark/' they would have two miles 
or more to go before they reached the 
tomb. It would therefore have been about 
sunrise when Mark saw them on the latter 
part of their journey or otherwise became 
aware of their visit. No contradiction is 
necessarily involved. 

This does not establish the integrity of 
the two narratives beyond question. For 
it is not even contended that this suppo- 
sition is true. But it is a natural and 
reasonable ground on which the two ac- 
counts may be harmonized. One possible 
solution only is needed to establish the 
consistency of the narratives. Therefore 
if they are to be rejected at all it can not 
be because they are irreconcilable. 

More than one from each class of ob- 
jections is not needed as these serine to 



'THE COSMIC PLAN 25 

show the error into which the objectors 
have fallen. Similarly it may be shown 
that the common points of attack made by 
the sl^eptic against the consistency of the 
Bible can be reconciled if due allowance 
is made for the environment of the writ- 
ers and the other factors that probably 
entered the composition. There is just 
enough variation in them to confirm a 
faith in the independence of each of the 
writers. 

Nearly every one who discredits the 
Bible does so on the grounds of minor 
discrepancies he seems to see, and not for 
its general teachings. This should not 
be deemed a sufficient cause for discredit- 
ing a story whose general teachings are 
well substantiated. For it should be re- 
membered that, tho God is unlimited in 
Himself, His dealings with human beings 



26 THE COSMIC PLAN 

are limited by human imperfections. No 
revelation of Himself should be considered 
full or complete, tho doubtless they all 
have beea as nearly so as man^s limited 
capacity could receive. 

The method of revelation might be ex- 
pected to depend upon the avenues of ap- 
proach to man's sensibilities. The earlier 
revelations were made thru the audible 
words of angels in bodily form. Later, 
when some degree of understanding had 
been established, a direct impression could 
be made without the visible presence of 
an angel to indicate the source of the mes- 
sage. This is called an inspiration and 
appears to be a process by which a truth 
is conveyed to man without his conscious- 
ness of a medium. The Spirit of God can 
impress the spirit of man without the aid 



THE COSMIC PLAN 27 

of physical senses, so that he feels a con- 
viction. 

Men now say sometimes ^^A certain 
thing suddenly occurred to my mind.'' 
Often such is the case when the thot thus 
^'occurring'' is the one much needed and 
serves a good purpose. It is not an ade- 
quate explanation to say that it merely 
resulted from certain psychological pro- 
cesses. For it might be pertinently asked 
what force guided the processes when it is 
confessed that they were beyond the bounds 
of consciousness and therefore beyond con- 
trol of the will? 

There was a time when the only ways 
man had for communicating with his fel- 
lowman were either to speak to him in 
person or to send a messenger to him. 
Later wireless telegraphic systems have 
been devised in which no visible medium 



28 THE COSMIC PLAN 

is used, but the messages are transmitted 
by them as really as by the previous meth- 
ods. In view of this fact why should it 
be thot incredible for man to receive mes- 
sages from God without the use of any 
medium that he is conscious of? 

God has varied his methods of deliver- 
ing his messages to man. Angels have 
brot some of them; sometimes a still small 
voice was used; again, visions conveyed 
the intelligence; and often a direct impres- 
sion is made when no medium is evident. 
In divine revelation as in wireless teleg- 
raphy the receiver should be attuned to the 
sender. 

The component parts of the Bible were 
selected from among the sacred writings 
of the ancient Hebrews. To accept this 
canonizing of the Scriptures as being un- 
der divine guidance is as plausible as to 



THE COSMIC PLAN 29 

accept the inspiration of the Scriptures 
themselves. It is as reasonable to think 
that a man, whose religious instincts had 
been cultivated and thereby rendered sen- 
sitive to the influences of the Spirit of 
God, would be able to discriminate be- 
tween the inspired and the uninspired 
writings as it is to think that God could 
communicate with man at all. 

It is natural to conclude therefore that: 

1. The POSSIBILITY of a revelation 
from God to man is involved in the power 
and wisdom of God and the comprehen- 
sion of man. 

2. The PROBABILITY of such a revela- 
tion is involved in the most evident pur- 
pose of creation, viz, the glory of God. 

3. Claims that such a revelation HAS 
BEEN MADE are found among all the na- 
tions of earth. 



30 THE COSMIC PLAN 

4. Evidence both internal and exter- 
nal is strongly in favor of the Bible as 
being not only a message from God but a 
message that is cosmopolitan in its pur- 
pose, application and power, tho encum- 
bered with difficulties incident to human 
imperfection. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Incarnation as Seen From Two 
Viewpoints. 

God is regarded by most people as a 
mysterious personality veiled behind in- 
approachable glory, made more inapproach- 
able by human guilt. The Scriptural 
declaration that He is a Spirit beclouds 
the hope of ever seeing Him with the 
physical vision or knowing Him thru any 
of the carnal senses. The difficulty of 
acquiring a definite and immediate knowl- 
edge of Him is keenly felt. Yet men of 
every age, clime and class desire to know 
Him. 

Tho it is the intangible spirit and not 
the material body of our earthly friends 
that we appreciate most and seek fellow- 
ship with, their bodily presence is much 



32 THE COSMIC PLAN 

desired and enjoyed as a medium of mu- 
tual communication. So the Spirit of God 
is what would be the object of our adora- 
tion tho some seemingly more realistic 
expression of Himself should be embodied 
in our midst. But His bodily presence 
brought within the reach of man's heshly 
faculties is desired everywhere. Man 
would like to see Him, hear Him, and 
know Him intimately. The heathen who 
makes and worships an idol is trying to 
bridge the chasm. But God alone can 
span that space. The initiative must be 
his. 

This innate longing for divine commun 
ion was a familiar feeling to the ancient 
Jews. They frequently used expressions 
which indicated their belief in divine ema- 
nations. Therefore when the apostle John 
declared that ^^The Word was made flesh 



THE COSMIC PLAN 33 

and dwelt amoDg- us/' etc. he was using 
the vernacular of his day. However it is 
noticeable that prior to this declaration he 
had identified the Word with God and 
reminds his readers that a precedent for 
the Incarnation was found in the acts 

of creation. '* and the Word 

was God, By Him were all 

things made.'' Jno. 1:1-2. Cautiously be- 
ginning with the monotheism in which 
the Hebrew people were so well confirmed 
the apostle designs to lead them into an 
acceptance of the divinity of Christ and 
ultimately to an appreciation of the Trin- 
ity. For Jehovah to be made flesh and 
dwell among men, he would have them 
infer, would do no violence to their idea 
of His essential unity; would be in har- 
mony with their notion of divine emana- 



34 THE COSMIC PLAN 

tions; and would conform to the precedent 
established during creation. 

A word is a vehicle for conveying an 
idea from one mind to another. Some- 
times it is an audible sound; sometimes 
a sign or gesture; often it is a combina- 
tion of circumstances that conveys an im- 
pression. In the case before us it is a 
human form. The divine Spirit inhabi- 
ting and vitalizing a human organism 
constituted what is known as the Incar- 
nate Word. 

This is a mystery, it is true, but no 
greater mystery than lite itself. 

God, who is essentially one, and who is 
independent of all things outside His own 
nature, chose for a time to cease sending 
His message to humanity and came in 
person to bring the most glorious tidings 
of all and to demonstrate their reality in 



THE COSMIC PLAN 35 

terms of human experieace. This should 
not be taken to mean that He merely took 
complete control of a man nor that he 
inspired a man with a surcharge of 
His spirit. Jesus was more than either 
of these. He was not entirely human 
but he was completely human; neither 
was He entirely divine but He was com- 
pletely divine. He was more than either 
for He was both^ in the sense that He 
combined in His personality all the essen- 
tial attributes of humanity and of divin- 
ity. 

The coming of Christ was not to recon- 
cile God to man but to prove to man that 
God was already reconciled to him, thru 
the covenant made before the creation. 
The necessity lay in man's need not in 
God's. Even among men the one who is 
offended is usually more easily brought to 



36 THE COSMIC PLAN 

terms of peace than is the offender. This 
fact is recognized in the Bible where it 
says, ^^If thy brother trespass against thee, 
go and tell him, etc.'' Matt. 18;15. Here 
the innocent party is enjoined to take the 
initiative in restoring harmony. The gnilt 
which a sinner feels makes him desire to 
shun God instead of seek His aid and fel- 
lowship. He dreads what he knows he 
deserved. Never can he be induced to 
approach the mercy seat until he is assured, 
in some degree at least, that mercy can be 
found. 

It is in Jesus, the Incarnate Word, that 
man can learn the divine attitude toward 
a guilty and fallen race. In Him alone 
the desired assurance can be had. Thru 
him we learn that the infinite God has 
made common cause with us in all that 
concerns our welfare. He taught us that 



THE COSMIC PLAN 37 

our Judge has condesceuded to share the 
shame of our condition, even to become 
the victim to atone for our sins. Nor did 
the force of the divine love spend itself in 
one great condescension. It was the mo- 
tive of His every movement, the actuating 
power that gave a tender tone to all His 
dealings with sinful humanity. He went 
about cheering the faint hearted, healing 
the sick, forgiving the penitent, and com- 
forting the distressed. 

Whenever a sin cursed soul is brot face 
to face with the fact that he is the object 
of a warm and sincere love flowing fresh 
from the heart of a pure and holy God, he 
breaks down under a weighty feeling of 
unworthiness, his heart is crushed with a 
sense of guilt and he makes a broken con- 
fession between the sobs that convulse his 
frame. Soon a Father^s forgiveness is felt 



38 THE COSMIC PLAN 

and peace pervades the soul; a newborn 
joy delights the e3^e. As a gentle shower 
returns to repeat the glorious rainbow 
promise after the drenching storm, so do 
large tears of gratitude and gladness rise 
unbidden to the eyes late wet with weep- 
ing. 

The grace and truth of the Father were 
to be seen in the Word. The law as given 
thru Moses was necessarily inadequate to 
reveal these because of the imperfections 
of the medium. ^^For the law was given 
by Moses but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ;' Jno. 1:17. 

Viewed from God's side the purpose of 
the Incarnation was to keep the holy cov- 
enant by which the sins of the world were 
to be atoned for. The efficiency of the 
sacrifice of one life for countless millions 
is derived from the importance of the per- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 39 

son who is offered. Many common pris- 
oners are given for the ransom of a cap- 
tive prince. The infinite value of the 
Word made His sacrifice of infinite value 
and therefore sufficient for all. Viewed 
from man's side the *^Word was made 
flesh and dwelt among us'' in order to 
give man a more accurate image of his 
Maker and thereby constrain him into 
an acceptance of the terms of pardon and 
to further endow him with both the power 
and inclination to glorify the Father. The 
accomplishment of what reason and reve- 
lation have declared to be the original 
design of man's creation (viz: the glory of 
God), is largely aided by the life of Jesus. 
(^^And we beheld His glory.") 



CHAPTER IV. 

The New Birth. Its Necessity. Heav- 
en AND How TO Get There. 

There is perhaps no question of such 
general interest as the question of how to 
get to Heaven. People seem perplexed 
about it and are not satisfied to lay it 
down without an answer. They appear 
to feel like so far as this present world is 
concerned they can each depend on his 
own judgment and management for his 
comfort and pleasure. But on account of 
the mystery of the next world (or for some 
such reason) they feel the need of some 
assurance more than their personal pow- 
ers can give. 

Before we can hope to get a satisfactory 
solution of the question of an entrance 



THE COSMIC PLAN 41 

into Heaven, it is necessary first to get a 
correct idea of what Heaven is. 

What we usually mean by Heaven is 
the blissful abode of the saints beyond 
the grave. Concerning this but little is 
known. But much light from the Bible 
is available to him who bears in mind the 
tact that the Bible uses ^^Kingdom of 
Heaven'' and the ^^Kingdom of God'' syn- 
onomously. To express their relation in 
common parlance, it might be said that 
Heaven is that part of God's kingdom 
which lies beyond the grave and that in 
order to go to Heaven after death it is 
necessary to enter into the Kingdom of 
God before death. 

This is the correct idea but it is usually 
accompanied by a belief in the fallacy that 
the death of the body is what properly 
prepares us for a habitation in Heaven. 



42 THE COSMIC PLAN 

The new birth is both the means of en- 
trance into the kingdom and the most 
important part of the preparation for its 
enjoyment in this life and the next. The 
principal change wrought by death is the 
severing of the soul from time and loca- 
tion and from all sources of sin and temp- 
tation . 

As it has been observed that Heaven 
beyond the grave and the kingdom on this 
side of the grave are of the same nature 
let the inquiry for the present be directed 
to the kingdom. 

A kingdom is the domain of a king, the 
domain over which God rules is His king- 
dom. There is a sense in which He rules 
all things. But somehow it seems to have 
suited His purpose to leave a certain 
sphere to the choice of man and those who 
voluntarily acknowledge His rightful su- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 43 

premacy are in His kingdom or rather 
have His kingdom in them. 

We are taught that God is a spirit and 
that His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. 
All of its sources of life and joy are there- 
fore spiritual. Material things some time 
serve as a medium for spiritual truth. 
But the perishable properties of material 
things are contrary to the essential idea 
of permanence in Heaven and the absence 
of change or decay. If however by some 
special providence of God a material splen- 
dor should be found in the glory world 
that would not constitute the source of its 
joys.* 

His kingdom is also subjective. Christ 
said ^^The kingdom of God cometh not 
with observation. Neither shall they say, 
Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the 

*For further discussion of Heaven see Chapter XI. 



44 THE COSMIC PLAN 

kingdom of God is Vvithin yon.^' Luke 
17:20, 21. It is not something that you 
can look at and point at and say, *^Here 
it is, or there it is,'^ but it is an attribute 
of the heart. The same thing is taught 
in the *^Sermon on the mount/' Christ 
in the melodious octave of the beatitudes 
conveyed the idea that happiness is due 
not to what surrounds us but to the con- 
dition inside. He guarantees happiness 
to those who are poor in spirit; who 
mourn; or love meekness; or righteous- 
ness; or mercy; or purity or peace; or who 
bear persecution. Notice that no refer- 
ence is made in any case to the intellect or 
to material possessions. He does not say 
blessed are the wealthy or learned or hon- 
ored. He goes back of these to the seat 
of affection, to the seat of life. Conditions 



THE COSMIC PLAN 45 

there determine whether or not we shall 
have His guarantee of happiness. 

He also traces guilt to its home in the 
heart. He said in substance that it is not 
the taking of a life that makes a man a 
murderer, but the guilt of murder lies in 
the condition of the heart that makes a 
man want to take the life of another. If 
one hate another and desire his death he 
is as guilty before God as if he fires a fatal 
shot. The latter act would make him 
guilty before man also which brings upon 
him the penalty of human laws and the 
condemnation of human society. But his 
guilt before God is the same in both cases. 
The penalty paid in the latter case is 
merely a forfeiture for the damage done 
to his fellowman. 

A mere look of carnal lust makes a man 
an adulterer. Matt. 5:28. 



46 THE COSMIC PLAN 

So it is seen that guilt is due to internal 
conditions and not to the conduct. One 
may be grossly guilty of much before God 
and yet his conduct be exemplary before; 
men. 

Jesus also points out the fact that devo- 
tion and service are measured by Him in 
terms of sincerity and love and not by any 
external standard. These are illustrated 
with prayer and alms-giving. ^^When 
thou prayest shut the door.'' Matt. 6:6. 
^^When thou doest thine alms let not thy 
left hand know what thy right hand 
doeth." Matt. 6:3. Both are acceptable 
unto God in proportion as they are true 
expressions of what the heart feels. 

So the heart is seen to be the home of 
happiness, of guilt and of service. 

Therefore the fact that the kingdom of 
God is subjective is what relates it so vi- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 47 

tally to human life and experience. In 
fact it is a form of life. It is that form of 
life whose love for God is its inspiration^ 
whose source of joy is in serving others, 
and whose fondest desire is to see the 
triumph of truth thru the sway of the di- 
vine will. 

We know that none by nature have this 
kind of life. Let every restraint of grace 
be removed and the entire natural life be 
given full swing and see whose will is re- 
garded most. Our natural passion would 
take us downward. Self is the center of 
gravity in every natural life. All that 
goes against self is but for a season and 
will soon recede. But Christ is the center 
around which all regenerated hearts re- 
volve. The contrast is analogous to that 
between the Ptolamaic and Copernican 
system of astronomy. According to the 



48 THE COSMIC PLAN 

former the earth was supposed to be the 
center of the universe and around it re- 
volved the sun and planets. According to 
the latter the earth is seen to be a very 
minor spot in space while the sun is the 
source and center of gravity for the solar 
system. The natural man needs his whole 
system of life changed. God and His 
glory should be the center of human af- 
fection, thots and purposes to which all 
else IS subordinated. 

But who can work this change? Man 
cannot. No one can direct his love by a 
mere sense of duty. All genuine love is 
spontaneous. If it does not come freely 
and unbidden from the heart, it lacks that 
purity and sweetness that makes it such 
a power. Only the author of life itself 
can work the needed change of center and 
supply an adequate motive for altruistic 



p 



THE COSMIC PLAN 49 



living. A new heart is needed and only 
a new birth can furnish it and maintain 
the identity of the individual. 



CHAPTER V. 

New Birth — Its Nature. Why Sal- 
vation IS Conditioned on Faith. 

Every normal man has the germ of 
spiritual life, as every normal egg contains 
an embryonic chicken. This capacity 
needs a quickening. Adam was a living 
soul but he was not a quickeniug spirit 
and could not perpetuate in his posteriy a 
spiritual life. In order therefore to have 
a spiritual life it is necessary to be born 
of the spirit of God. 

Let it not be inferred from this however 
that none are immortal except those who 
are regenerated. There is a difference 
between what is commonly called immor- 
tality and what the Bible evidently means 
by everlasting life. Man's qualitj^ of being 
immortal is due to the divine nature im- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 51 

parted in the beginning and is an attribute 
of every soul. Everlasting life has an 
added tone and is possessed by only those 
who are regenerated. 

Life means more than a continuous ex- 
istence. It implies a response to environ- 
ment that gives some degree of pleasure. 
The contrast between life and death is not 
analogous to that between existence and 
non-existence but rather similar to that 
between union and separation. The root 
meaning of life is union or order and of 
death is separation or confusion. Unre- 
generated souls abide in death because 
they are not only separated from God ju- 
dicially but they are separated from Him 
also in their will and disposition. When 
a man dies a physical death without hav- 
ing his heart's affections made anew and 
placed on spiritual things, his soul will 



52 THE COSMIC PLAN 

continue its conscious existence, but with 
its source of joy cut off, being isolated 
from all it had learned to love. ^^If any 
man love the world the love of the Father 
is not in him. For all that is in the world 
is not of the Father but is of the world 
And the world passeth away and the lust 
thereof: but he that doeth the will of the 
Father abideth forever.^' I Jno. 2:15-17. 
Such a soul would be responsive to its en- 
vironment but the tone of its response 
would be pain instead of pleasure. John 
evidently means this in I Jno. 3:9 where 
he says in substance, ^^He that is out of 
tune with the divine nature abideth in 
death.'' Immortality therefore without 
regeneration is clearly possible* 

Christ emphasized the imperative need 
of regeneration in His conversation with 

*For further discussion of Immortality see Chapter XI. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 53 

Nicodemus. He asserts that the necessity 
of the new birth arises from the insuffi- 
ciency of the natural birth to endow a 
person with spiritual powers. Said He, 
^^That which is born of the flesh is flesh 
and that which is born of the spirit is 
spirit.'' Jno. 3:6. 

The natural birth makes us heir to 
much but not to spiritual life. It equips 
us with all the faculties needed for the 
full enjoyment and development of the 
natural life. But it stops at that. It 
fixes our parentage, nationality, sex and 
many other historical facts and by it our 
future activities are likewise limited. The 
natural birth of the caterpillar limits its 
sphere of activity and determines its 
mode of living. But it has the innate 
ability to become something more glorious 
and to live a life of a different mode. 



54 THE COSMIC PLAN 

The caterpillar has at first a very hum 
ble life in which it may find a degree of 
pleasure. Later, by a death to that life, 
and a subjection to certain forces, it finds 
itself unfolded to a larger and nobler life. 
No longer is its pleasure derived from the 
shining pebbles found in its path as it 
crawls in the dust. But with wings of 
beauty it now rises from the sordid earth 
and sips the sweets of various flowers be- 
fore unknown to it. 

The caterpillar did not produce this 
change. It only conformed to conditions 
that allowed forces of nature to do it. 
Neither can we of ourselves produce the 
change of heart that is essential to a spirit- 
ual life. But we can submit to the condi- 
tions under which the spirit of God will 
produce it. The conditions are clearly 
stated in Jno. 1:12-13, and often repeated 



THE COSMIC PLAN 55 

in the New Testament. '^But as many as 
received Him, to them gave He power 
to become the sons of God even to them 
that believe on His name: which were 
born of God.^' The terms are restated 
in Jno. 3:16. ^^That whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish but have ever- 
lasting life.'' 

It is seen therefore that faith in Jesus 
as a Savior must be an important factor 
in the process. It is natural to inquire 
why so small a thing should be chosen as 
a means of salvation and how it can serve 
so great a purpose? 

* It should be remembered that faith does 
not contain the virtue that works the 
change of nature. Grace is the power that 
does the work and faith is the line of 
transmission. ^^For by grace are ye saved 
thru faith.'' Eph. 2:8. Every wire touch- 



56 THE COSMIC PLAN 

ing the main comiug from the dj/namo is 
charged with a live electric current. So 
every soul that links by faith to Christ 
feels the divine thrill and is quickened 
into a new life. 

Faith implies the acknowledgment of 
a need of help and the recognition of a 
superior source that can supply that help, 
both involving a degree of humility. As 
the absence of these caused the fall of 
man and his spiritual death, it seems but 
natural that a resumption of them would 
be at least a prerequisite to his spiritual 
life and reinstatement. 

To accept the evidence that a thing is 
true and trustworthy is belief. To take a 
venture on the facts thus accepted is trust. 
A saving faith has both of these. It not 
only accepts the evidence of the integrity 
of God and His promises but it steps out 



THE COSMIC PLAN 57 

on the promises as the only hope and 
trusts the whole destiny on them because 
of the belief in their trustworthiness. 
Faith is regarded as a token of apprecia- 
tion and is considered a complement to its 
object. 

When a person voluntarily entrusts to 
the hands of another his whole hope of 
eternal life, he is conferring upon that one 
the greatest honor at his disposal. 

The terms of salvation are therefore 
seen to be such as foster the original de- 
sign in creation, viz: the glory of God. 

The virtue accruing to those who exer- 
cise faith in Jesus as a Savior is not due 
to the intrinsic value of faith itself, but to 
the fact that in exercising faith one is put- 
ting himself into harmony with God's 
plan. And being in harmony with God's 
plan causes the law of life to operate in 



58 THE COSMIC PLAN 

them. The quickening and new birth re- 
sults. 

Hence it is seen that in the sublime work 
of regenerating the souls of men and 
making Heaven possible for them, God is 
greatly glorified and His holy purpose is 
being further realized. 



CHAPTER VI. 
God's Benevolence ^ 

A dual purpose seems to be in all God^s 
dealings with men. Parallel to the para- 
mount purpose already stated runs a sec- 
ondary purpose that is supplementary to 
it: The glory of the Creator and the good 
of the creature. All plans are so laid that 
whatever brings glory to God proves to 
be also a benefit to man. Most especially 
to those who accept the divine plan. The 
factors already cited as fitting into the 
major purpose have also been very potent 
for the minor. 

The beauty and bounty of nature en- 
hance the happiness of men. The arteries 
of water in the earth are sources of con- 
tinual refreshment and joy. All that He 
has devised to perpetuate and sustain life 



60 THE COSMIC PLAN 

contribute to the comfort and pleasure of 
those who live. The principal functions 
of life's organism are pleasant while He 
might have made them the opposite. The 
taking of nourishment and sleep afford 
pleasure. The wisdom of Him who is 
infinite might have contrived an instinct 
that would have made eating a drudgery 
and sleeping an undesirable pastime. 

The Bible has been a great civilizing 
force in the world and civilization is a 
blessing to all who are touched by it. 
Even the brute fares better where the 
Bible is known. The coming of Christ 
into the world has wrought immeasurable 
good to humanity in ways too obvious to 
need mentioning. The regeneration of 
the hearts of men has a temporal and 
eternal value to all who experience it. All 
of which bear unimpeachable testimony 



THE COSMIC PLAN 61 

to the benevolence of the character of our 
Creator. For it must be remembered that 
He had the option of accomplishing His 
design in whatever way He chose, being 
restricted only by His own nature. There- 
fore the fact that He chose the means 
most conducive to the happiness of His 
creatures testifies to the benevolence of 
His nature. 

This evidence substantiates the claims 
that the Bible makes for Him and accords 
with man's ideal of a perfect Being. 

Longfellow said it was the benevolence 
of the divine nature that furnished the 
motive for the creative work, 

*Xove is the root of creation; God's es- 
sence; 

Worlds without number lie in his bosom 
like children. 

He made them for this purpose only; 

Only to love and to be loved again. 



62 THE COSMIC PLAN 

He breathed forth His spirit into the slum- 
bering- dust 

And upright standing it laid its hand on 
its heart 

And felt that it was warm with a flame 
out of Heaven/' 

As we are enabled to see the benevolent 
nature of the heart whence come all the 
laws for man's guidance we cannot be 
surprised to read in the sacred records that 
^Xove is the fulfilling of the law/' Rom. 
13:10. 

Love is the outgoing of self toward 
some object. If the object be attractive 
the outgoing toward it has in it no dis- 
tinctive virtue, but is only the natural 
expression of a normal nature. The self 
in this case is drawn outward by the at- 
traction of its object, and the self impart- 
ing is the result of an external force 



\ 



THE COSMIC PLAN 63 

drawing" outward instead of an expressive 
force from within. Things lovable and 
lovely cause the fountains of the soul to 
pour forth their sweetest emotions. But 
the love that Christ talked about is quite 
different in its origin and in its power, 
tho the two are similar in that the expe- 
rience of each has an element of genuine 
pleasure in it. 

The love that is ^^the fulfilling of the 
law'' is not experienced by the unregen- 
ated heart, but only by those who are born 
of the Spirit of Him whose fundamental 
and universal form of existence is the out- 
going of self. Love that forgives and for- 
bears, love that will suffer imposition and 
injustice, depends not upon the quality of 
its object but finds its origin and impulse 
in fellowship with Him who makes his 
sun to shine upon the good and bad and 



% 



64 THE COSMIC PLAN 

who bends His rain on the just and on the 
unjust. Nor is the flow of such love ob- 
structed by ing^ratitude. For God loves us 
while we are unappreciative and ungrate- 
ful. Hence, we must see that His love 
finds its cause and motive in the nature of 
the divine heart from which it so freely 
flows. And we, to exemplify a passion of 
similar purity, must needs come under 
control of His Spirit. For there is noth- 
ing in human nature that prompts such 
unadulterated altruism as this. 

Every expression of God's nature is 
beneficent. Pity, compassion, mercy and 
affection are all terms expressive of His 
general attitude of helpfulness and appre- 
ciation. No wonder, then, that Christ 
declares that all who are controlled by 
such a passion are free from the law. For 
the old Mosaic law was intended only as a 



THE COSMIC PLAN 65 

suggestion of God's will and a partial rev- 
elation of His character; while love reveals 
Him in His beauty, teaches the heart to 
k now His will and furnishes the inspira- 
tion needed for appropriate action. 

Hence every act whose motive power is 
love is in full accord with the law. There- 
fore liberty thus obtained is not accom- 
panied by a risk of violence or abuse, and 
the life whose law is love is not responsi- 
ble to any other law. 

Christ fulfilled the law not by merely 
conforming His life to it, but by filling it 
full of the spirit of the Lawgiver. The 
reason why ^Xove is the fulfilling of the 
law'' is therefore very obvious. Love 
made the law is why love fulfills it. 

Paul said in substance that the law was 
to enable the guilty soul to see his guilt 
and thereby appreciate his need of pardon. 



V 



66 THE COSMIC PLAN 

It is also to teach a man his depravity and 
his inability to do the will of God in his 
own strength so that he could realize his 
need of a Savior. But both of these are 
subordinate to the broader, higher and 
nobler purpose stated by Christ iu Matt. 
5:44-45, ^Xove your enemies .... that 
ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in Heaven. '^ Not that love 
causes one to become a child of God, but 
it conforms him to the likeness of God. 

It is natural for people to look to 
their origin as their model. This ex- 
plains the disposition of an earthly child 
to make his father his model. The same 
is the probable cause of ancestral worship 
and the reverential regard for traditional 
customs. In all such cases however there 
is a possibility of equaling and sometimes 
excelling the model, and the ideal is 



THE COSMIC PLAN 67 

changed as progress is made. But in the 
case of the children of our spiritual Father 
no possibility of equaling the model in 
this life is ever to be seen and no change 
of ideal is needed. In the spiritual life 
the inbred desire for paternal imitation is 
permanent. 

Christ, recognizing this secret spring of 
action, gave it outlet and direction. Love 
will make you like your Maker. 

To be made the object of emulation is 
an honor to any one. To be regarded as 
a criterion even among men is a testimony 
of esteem. There is therefore to be seen 
couched in the laws of conduct laid down 
for Christian living the great purpose of 
glorifying God. And no less surely is 
seen the parallel purpose of benefiting the 
creature. Benevolent living always reacts 
pleasantly upon the heart of him who 



68 THE COSMIC PLAN 

thus lives aud sheds a gleam of happiness 
upon all who are touched by it. 

Hence the highest inducements are of- 
fered for man to accept the divine plan 
and accord his conduct to the will of God. 



CHAPTER VIL 

Afflictions. Why Good People Have 

Much Trouble While the 

Wicked Are Allowed 

Pleasure and 

Prosperity. 

Good people often have to bear afflic- 
tion. Being a Christian exempts no one 
from the common sorrows of humanity. 
The remark is frequently made that the 
best people seem to have more trouble and 
sadness than any others, which is true in 
many cases. It is a fulfillment of Heb. 
12:6, ^Whom the Lord Loveth He chas- 
teneth.'' 

The confusion in people^s minds result- 
ing from such a situation is due to the 
false assumption that providential afflic- 
tions are expressions of divine vengeance 



70 THE COSMIC PLAN 

or a vindictive process of punishing sin. 

Chasten means to make chaste or pure, 
just as hasten means to make haste. It 
follows that chastise means to purify. An 
earthly pirent may use the rod on his 
child merely to make it stop the noise that 
has been forbidden. The riddance of the 
noise for the sake of personal ease and 
quietude being the prime object with little 
or no thot of expunging from the child 
the spirit of disobedience. But before the 
use of the rod can rightly be called a 
chastisement it must be used for the pur- 
pose of purifying its object. 

In whatever form a divine chastening 
may come its prime purpose is to elimi- 
nate the foreign substance and to make 
clean and pure. As intense heat burns the 
dross from silver, so does dire afflictions 
refine the Christian's character. In this 



THE COSMIC PLAN 71 

light piety is often seen to be a result of 
human sorrow but not its cause. 

It is said that a man in a deep, dark 
well can see stars in the day time. If 
this be true it is for the same reason that 
he can see them at night while standing 
on the earth's surface. The more perma- 
nent parts of the universe are visible only 
when the transient things about him are 
shrouded in darkness. The photographer 
drapes his head with a black cloth to ex- 
clude the light from every source but one, 
so that thru that one he may see the ob- 
ject whose image he wants to duplicate. 

While wall^ing amid prosperity, stimu- 
lated by the cheer of friends, and a bright 
prospect all around, men's eyes are blind- 
ed from the eternal things of God by the 
glare of their temporal surroundings. But 
when adversity comes and friends no 



72 THE COSMIC PLAN 

longer seem to care, when the shadows 
seem to close in all around and the future 
lends no hope; then the things of time 
cease to have their charm, the ej^e is litted, 
the vision cast above. There God is seen 
still enthroned; His promises as bright 
as ever; and all the treasures that are 
worthy of the endeavor of an immortal 
soul are found unaffected by the gloom 
which environs the lowly child of God. 
Many a person has had revealed to him 
thru the grief resulting from the death of 
a close friend or relative the realities of 
eternal worth. It is while dwelling in 
the shadow of some calamity the Chris- 
tian is ofttimes enabled to get a vision of 
the divine likeness that God would have 
him become. The development of the 
image thus impressed upon the conscience 
made sensitive by sorrow is possible only 



THE COSMIC PLAN 73 

by the aid of further darkness. There is 
an element of truth in the couplet which 
says: 

^^The path of sorrow, and that path alone, 
Leads to the land where sorrow is un- 
known.'' 

Land that is subsoiled, harrowed and 
pulverized is more productive than hard 
ground, not because of any superior 
strength but because its strength is made 
available. It yields its substance to the 
tender feeders on the plant roots and a 
bounteous harvest results. Hearts that 
are harrowed with grief yield more sym- 
pathy for the suffering and benevolence 
for the needy than those worn hard by a 
monotonous prosperity. Sorrow softens 
the heart so that the Christian virtues can 
strike their roots deeper, fortify against 
adverse winds and yield a richer harvest. 



74 THE COSMIC PLAN 

The life that is already fruitful is 
purged that it may bring forth more fruit. 

Chastening is to be regarded also as an 
evidence of sonship. ^'For whom the Lord 
loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth every 
son whom He receiveth.'' Those who 
will not endure chastening are bastards 
and not sons. Some pretend to be sons 
and may be so received by men but if they 
cannot stand the test of providential ad- 
versities they have conclusive testimony 
that they have not been born of the Spirit. 
^^For it ye endure not chastening then are 
ye bastards and not sons.'' Heb. 12:8. 

Many ungodly men, living even in open 
wickedness, are allowed prosperity, health 
and many other earthly joys undisturbed. 
Your child and your neighbor's child may 
both be guilty of trespassing on ground 
you have forbidden. You chasten your 



THE COSMIC PLAN 75 

child but not your neighbor's child. 
There is a true sense in which the regen- 
erated person is a child of God and the 
unregenerated is not. He chastens His 
children but not those of another. 

The sweetest, strongest and happiest 
Christian characters are often to be found 
in those who have dwelt much under the 
chastening hand of a loving Father. But 
the good of the individual is by no means 
the sole object of any such providences. 
His riches of character are well worth the 
price paid tho it seems dear. The same 
missionary idea is involved here as is 
found in the Bible. ^^I will bless thee and 
make thee a blessing." The fragrance 
and beauty of the life enriched and re- 
fined by sadness is a source of constant 
blessing to those about it. 

The most powerful preachers will not 



76 THE COSMIC PLAN 

point to their native abilitj^ or mental 
training as the source of their power but 
will reverently attribute it to some deep 
grief thru which God revealed His will to 
them and imparted His inspiration. The 
sweetest sentiments are associated with 
sad experience. The best of poetry is bred 
in trying times. Songs that vibrate with 
sublime aspirations and carry comfort to 
bleeding hearts are born in times of 
serious affliction. Their enduring quali- 
ties and constant power to awaken a re- 
sponsive chord in the hearts of men are 
due to the depth of some soul from which 
a divine affliction has brought them. 
Songs that are made merelj^ to sell have 
no such power. No artistic skill can ar- 
range words and music that have a power 
to compare with the simple utterances of 
the melody which rises spontaneously 
from a soul sweetened by sorrow. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 77 

There is another viewpoint from which 
the trials of Christian people may be seen 
as a medium of divine blessing to the 
world. 

^^Spiritual things are spiritually dis- 
cerned.'' The natural man no more un- 
derstands spiritual things than a horse 
appreciates the significance of a monu- 
ment to the memory of a hero. But he 
can and does appreciate physical facts that 
are brought to him thru his carnal senses. 
These he interprets according to his gen- 
eral conception of things, knowing that a 
suitable sequence follows every cause. 

The carnal mind sees no mystery when 
one who has been persecuted turns upon 
his enemy for revenge, or when the sorely 
affiicted life languishes in despair. But 
when there is visible evidence that one still 
cares for those who curse him; that he can 



78 THE COSMIC PLAN 

smile even wheu death bereaves him of a 
loved one; that he can rejoice even with 
darkness about him, the unregenerated 
heart sees no natural cause for such se- 
quences. It is thus led to acknowledge 
the reality of the Christian religion. He 
interprets such a life as an exponent of 
the faith it professes. In it he sees a faint 
likeness of the Father; sees the possibility 
of finding mercy in spite of his unworthi- 
ness. Faith is sometimes thus engendered 
and salvation follows. 

The chastenings of the Lord develop 
these qualities of the Christian character 
and make them visible to the unbelieving 
world. 

Therefore what appears to the world as 
a venting of Jehovah's wrath against sin 
is a part of the great Cosmic Plan to ac- 
complish his dual purpose. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Missions. Is the Heathen Responsi- 
ble? Modern Mission Methods 

Why is so much stress put upon mis- 
sions today, in view of the tact that Christ 
said so little about it while here as a 
teacher? 

It is noticeable that He, according to 
the sacred records, said nothing to His 
followers about extending His kingdom to 
other nations until after His death. Not 
even in the intimate conversations with 
them shortly before His death did He 
mention it except in figurative language 
which they would hardly understand un- 
til He had risen and ascended. On the 
night of the betrayal He said much in the 
way of warning and notified them of com- 
ing persecutions but said nothing that 



80 THE COSMIC PLAN 

would lead them to think He contemplated 
their efforts would extend beyond the 
Jews except as His remarks were inter- 
preted in the light of what developed later. 
But after the resurrection the whole 
atmosphere seemed changed. He meets 
with His disciples on only one occasion 
after death that had been appointed before 
death. That was in Galilee. True He 
did confront them unannounced several 
times, but seemingly to establish His 
identity, prove His resurrection, and com- 
fort their hearts At the prearranged 
meeting it might be expected that He 
would announce something He considered 
important. There He gave what is com- 
monly called the great commission. The 
heart of it is given again just as He was 
about to ascend to Heaven from Mount Oli- 
vet. The latter being more a prophecy 



THE COSMIC PLAN 81 

than a command, like His former expres- 
sion, ^'And the gospel must first be pub- 
lished among all the nations.'' Mk. 13:10. 
Perhaps no one knows the cause of 
His delay in delivering the command that 
is considered of such importance, unless 
it is the reason given to the Greeks who 
desired to see Him. As st^en from the 
present viewpoint it appears that Christ's 
victory over death was needed to establish 
the idea of the permanence of the king- 
dom in the conception of His followers. 
He had by the power of the Spirit shown 
His control over the forces of nature. They 
had recognized His Mastery over disease 
and death of others. But after the resur- 
rection they also saw in Him a complete 
sovereignty over all the forces that can 
effect humanity. So when on the moun- 
tain in Galilee He says '^AU authority is 



82 THE COSMIC PLAN 

given unto me in Heaven and in earth/' 
they are in a better position to accept it. 
With this authority stated He proceeds to 
commission them for a world-wide cam- 
paign. ^^Go ye therefore and teach all 
nations, etc Teaching them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world/^ Matt. 
28:19-20. 

Here He breaks down every limitation 
to His kingdom. Its borders are to em- 
brace all the human family who will ac- 
cept its terms; they are to receive a full 
gospel, with the assurance of divine aid 
in every effort to still extend it. 

There is to be found in the Old Testa- 
ment as far back as Abraham's day, a 
prophecy of the universal spread of the 
gospel. *^In thy seed shall all the nations 



THE COSMIC PLAN 83 

of the earth be blessed/' The Psalms also 
make many references to the time when 
all the earth shall praise Him. 

The prayer Christ taught His disciples 
also aspires to the time when He will 
have full sway in all the earth. 

One reason why the missionary idea is 
not more prominent in the Old. Testament 
is because it is overshadowed by the idea 
of the unity of God. After the Jewish 
mind was thoroly saturated with the thot 
that there is only one true and living God, 
it was then prepared to invade the reli- 
gious life of other nations without the 
danger ot losing this essential thot. Jew- 
ish contact with other nations had often 
brot them into idolatry. 

The three most prominent thots in the 
Bible are these: 

1. There is but one God. This is the 



84 THE COSMIC FLAX 

chief burden of the old Testament teach- 
ings. 

2. Jesus Christ is His Son. To con- 
nrm this fact the Four Gospels were 
written. 

3. The blessings of the gospel are to 
be extended to all the earth. The book 
of Acts is a record of what the earh' apos- 
tles did toward the accomplishment of this 
purpose. The Epistles are intended to 
*'Teach them all things" which He had 
commanded, and to clarify the minds of 
the early Christians of the errors they 
had conceived about this gospel. 

The most prominent impression Christ 
left with His followers was the coming of 
the Comforter. But His coming was to 
more full}^ inspire them with the needed 
power to accomplish the great missionary 



THE COSMIC PLAN 85 

task — to witness for Him from Jerusalem 
to the uttermost parts of the earth. 

It took a special revelation to enable 
Peter to pass the bounds of Jewish preju- 
dice, but the revelation was furnished. It 
took dire persecutions to scatter the apos- 
tles from Jerusalem, but the persecution 
was also furnished. To preach the gospel 
to others seems to have been the recog- 
nized duty of all. But they wanted their 
own people to be the recipients. Their 
descendants must have been very prolific 
for they are very numerous today even in 
this far away land. But when the Spirit, 
who was to guide them into all truth, led 
them into the full light of the divine plan 
they seem to have no longer consulted 
flesh and blood but went in every direc- 
tion preaching to all who would hear. 
Paul, the most prominent of them all 



86 THE COSMIC PLAN 

went ^^Far hence unto the Gentiles'^ and 
spent most of his ministerial life in Asia 
Minor, Greece and Rome. 

If Scriptural authority is wanted for the 
missionary propaganda it is to be had in 
abundance; in the command of Christ, in 
the practice of the early disciples, and in 
the spirit ot the New Testament. But if 
some other source is sought to justify 
such an enterprise some very valid reasons 
are observant. It should be kept in mind 
however that the spirit of missions does 
not consist merely of organizations and 
rallies, etc., but rather in a desire to pass 
a good thing on to those who have it not. 

Human nature is instinct with this de- 
sire. The housewife with a handsome 
new cooking stove is glad to speak of it to 
her neighbors. The boy who finds a good 
swimming pool delights to tell his com- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 87 

rade about it and induce him to share its 
pleasures. Only such things as decrease 
by sharing are immune from the mission- 
ary spirit. In the code of ethics of the 
medical profession the missionary spirit is 
involved. They oppose the patenting of 
remedies for human ailments for the rea- 
son that anything that will alleviate the 
sufferings of humanity ought to be known 
to all. 

Any one who realizes that there is vir- 
tue in the Christian faith wants others to 
know it. The more he feels its power in 
his own life the more he will be inspired 
to urge its claims upon others. The man 
who has been transformed by the power 
of the gospel from a life of vile debauch- 
ery and crime to a life of purity makes a 
most zealous advocate with others for the 
same gospel. One who has been healed 



88 THE COSMIC PLAN 

of a dreadful malady by a certain treat- 
ment and knows of another who has the 
same trouble cannot rest content until he 
tells him of the remedy. 

Yet there are many who oppose foreign 
missions. They are not to be abused for 
so doing. They are rather to be given 
another viewpoint from which to see the 
situation. A better understanding of what 
the advocates of foreign missions are in- 
tending might enlist their sympathies and 
help. 

Three errors are responsible for about 
all the opposition to modern missions, espe- 
cially foreign missions. The lack of sup- 
port is due to carelessness, indifference, 
and various other forms of selfishness 
common to humanity. Sometimes oppo- 
sition is made in an effort to justify what 
conscience says is a neglect of duty, while 



THE COSMIC PLAN 89 

others no doubt are honestly mistaken and 
are conscientious in their antagonism. 
The three errors referred to are these: 

1. Deeds of charity are supposed to be 
the same as missions. 

2. The heathen is regarded as not be- 
ing responsible and therefore not lost. 

3. Present day methods are not ap- 
proved. 

Ministering to the physical needs of 
people is called an act of charity. That 
this is a good thing to do no one would 
deny. But if that is made an end and 
object in itself, it falls far short of being a 
missionary act according to the present 
day use of the term by those engaged in 
the work of missions. And their view- 
point is the one being now sought. 

The ultimate object of all missionary 
endeavor is to reach and help the spiritual 



90 THE COSMIC PLAN 

condition of men. In the same Scripture 
that records the healing of the sick by 
Christ is usually found also His words, 
^^Thy sins are forgiven." The needs of 
the material body are found to be an easy 
avenue of approach to the spiritual man. 
The distinction should be kept clear for it 
is real. Deeds of charity may be a part 
of the missionary program and are thor- 
oly in keeping with the teachings of 
Christ, but they of themselves do not con- 
stitute the object of missionary effort. 
Sometimes in America one who gives his 
destitute neighbor a loaf of bread will 
gloat in the satisfaction of having done a 
work of ^'home missions. '^ But if he hears 
of a foreign missionary giving free medi- 
cal aid to a needy heathen he at once con- 
demns it as a waste of money that ought 
to have been used at home. He feels that 



TBE COSMIC PLAN 91 

if missionaries must go to foreign lands 
they should only preach the gospel. All 
else they do is a prostitution and not au- 
thorized by the New Testament. The 
home mission enthusiast mistakes the 
means for the end and is satisfied with the 
mere means: but he condemns the foreign 
missionary, who has a much higher pur- 
pose in view, for using the same means 
that he had counted a worthy object 
within itself. 

To those who justify their neglect of 
foreign missions by saying, *^We have 
enough of charity at home to absorb all out 
surplus fund/' let it be said that the only 
feature that dignifies this threadbare ex* 
cuse enough for it to receive a reply is the 
wide use and acceptance it has among 
those who know not what they say. If 
you care for only your own and that 



92 THE COSMIC PLAN 

mostly in a physical way, what do ye more 
than the world? Do not even the frater- 
nal orders the same? Yea, verily, and the 
fraternal orders themselves owe their very 
existence to the faithfulness of some pio- 
neer pilgrim of the cross who dared to 
plant the spirit of altruism where it was 
not by bearing thither the gospel of Christ. 
Otherwise why are they not to be found 
except among those who have the Bible 
or are living in an atmosphere that is in- 
fluenced by its teachings? Is it not logi- 
cal to conclude that if a knowledge of the 
gospel can cause a people to care for their 
needy even to the extent our fraternal 
orders are doing, every race and nation 
should have it if for no other reason than 
that? 

All missionary endeavors are concen- 
tric. All emanate from the same desire 



THE COSMIC PLAN 93 

to honor God primarily, and to promote 
the welfare of His creatures. They con- 
stitute a large part (humanly speaking) of 
the Cosmic Plan of the Creator in accom- 
plishing His primitive purpose of getting 
glory to His name. To appreciate His 
purpose and co-operate with His plan of a 
world-wide campaign is as great an honor 
as a man can have and affords him the 
highest privilege of paying his debt of 
gratitude. 

Another contention of the opponents of 
foreign missions is that the heathen is 
not responsible because he does not know 
the law of God, and therefore is not lost. 

Such a conclusion seems consistent, but 
it is based on a false assumption. The 
Bible does not say he has not the law. 
Notice Paul's argument in Romans 1:18- 
28; 2:12-15. The Bible declares in Acts 



94 THE COSMIC PLAN 

4:12, ^^Neither is there salvation in any 
other: for there is none other name under 
Heaven given among men, whereby we 
must be saved/' (Save the name of Jesus). 
And we accept this as eminently true. It 
also says that preaching is God's most 
favored means of leading men to Him, but 
it does not say it is the only means. ''For 
the invisible things of Him from the crea- 
tion of the world are clearly seen, being 
understood by the things that are made, 
even His eternal power and Godhead; so 
that they are without excuse: Because 
that when they knew God they glorified 
Him not as God. Wherefore God also 
gave them up to uncleanness, etc. And 
even as they did not like to retain God in 
their knowledge, God gave them over to 
a reprobate mind, etc." Ro. 1:20-24-28. 
These Scriptures show why the heathens 



THE COSMIC PLAN 95 

had become as Paul described them and as 
possibly some of them are today. 

Their responsibilities and their possi- 
bilities are indicated in Ro. 2:12-15, *^For 
as many as have sinned without the law 

shall also perish without the law 

For when the Gentiles, which have not 
the law, do by nature the things contained 
in the law, are a law unto themselves: 
Which show the works of the law written 
in their hearts, their conscience also bear- 
ing witness, etc.'' It seems from this that 
a heathen would have an inherent sense 
of right and wrong without hearing the 
gospel preached or reading the Bible. 
Whether the divine finger writes the law 
on tables of stone or on human hearts it 
imparts a moral sense to all who receive 
it, and to any who will heed it, it is a 
power to lead them to Christ. 



96 THE COSMIC PLAN 

Job in his vexation raised the question, 
'If a man die shall he live again?'' Job 
14:14. There is no evidence that he had 
the gospel preached to him between that 
exclamation and the one found in Job 19: 
25-26, ^'For I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, and that He shall stand at the lat- 
ter day upon the earth: And tho after my 
skin worms destroy this body, yet in my 
flesh shall I see God/' He had faith to 
believe there is a protector for one who is 
loyal to God, and if this life furnished no 
consolation another one would be granted 
in which right would triumph. But if it 
is possible to arrive at a saving knowledge 
of a Redeemer without the instrumental- 
ity of the preached word, it carries the 
cognate possibility oi being lost without 
it. However, the Holy Writ clearly de- 
clares that preaching is God's chosen and 



THE COSMIC PLAN 97 

favored means of saving men. ^^For after 
that in the wisdom of God the world by 
wisdom knew not God, it pleased God . . . 
by the foolishness of preaching to save 
them that believe." I Cor. 1:21. 

If God had chosen to incline the hearts 
of heathen to Christ without the foolish- 
ness of preaching, other blessings attend- 
ant upon the preached word are significant 
enough to justify all their efforts men 
will ever make to have it preached to 
them. Where the gospel has not gone, 
no orphans homes are to be found, no 
home for the blind, no home for the friend- 
less, no charitable institutions, no sympa- 
thy for the unfortunate. In the wate of 
the preached word all these are found, 
glorifying God and blessing humanity. 

So far as methods are concerned it 
should be sufficient to say that ^^The best 



98 THE COSMIC PLAN 

methods are those that work best.'' In 
the present methods apostolic precedents 
are usuilly followed where conditions are 
similar to those encountered by the apos- 
tles. Otherwise the spirit of the New 
Testament interpreted by consecrated com- 
mon sense should be the guide. Paul, who 
must be recognized as an inspired man 
and a highly successful foreign mission- 
ary, spent much of his time wdth churches 
he had formerly instituted, ^^Teaching 
them to observe all things.'' He super- 
intended the work of native helpers, but 
beyond this the details of his methods are 
not well known. If he taught people how 
God wanted them to live and serve Him, 
what matters it that he did not call his 
school a seminary or an academy? 

Modern missionaries no doubt make 
mistakes in judgment and in policy. But 



THE COSMIC PLAN 99 

those who, after acquainting themselves 
with the class of men and women repre- 
senting our Christ in heathen lands todaj^, 
are not willing to entrust that sacred work 
into their hands could hardly be expected 
to trust any one or be trusted of others. 
Temporal conditions now make it very 
desirable to have a unity of faith thruout 
the earth. A world-conscience has been 
awakened. The world is already well 
united in many respects. Practically the 
entire earth is known to the civilized 
world; measured in terms of time instead 
of space, the earth has become merely a 
community; today we read what the world 
was doing yesterday; contact between an- 
tipodes has become so close that they have 
to agree in as many points as possible to 
keep friction at a minimum. Commercial 
interests of all the nations are so inter- 



100 THE COSMIC PLAN 

locked as to demand harmonious relations 
or retard the welfare of the whole human 
famil5^ The German-European war has 
vividly brot this fact to the attention of 
the whole world. Tho a quadrant of the 
earth separates us from the scenes of the 
present battles, every purse and pulse in 
America has been more or less affected by 
the struggle. A special tax of one dollar 
per head for every living soul in the land 
was levied to obviate a deficit in the na- 
tional treasury which the shortage of im- 
ports would be sure to cause. And this 
is but a small part of the loss resulting 
to us from the distant conflict. Safe and 
rapid transit together with quick commu- 
nication have superinduced specialization 
in industries and thereby intensified the 
interdependence of the nations. The inter- 
national court of arbitration is but an out- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 101 

growth of the complexity of international 
relations coming under the influence of 
the Prince of Peace. International courts, 
expositions, conventions, Sunday School 
organizations, Y. M. C. A. gatherings, 
together with various other assemblies in 
which representatives from all parts of the 
earth come together, bear testimony to the 
world conscience that is making itself felt. 
The time is ripe for urging the claims 
of Christ upon the whole world. Never 
can we hope to see every one acknowledge 
Him as Lord. But it is the manifest duty 
of every one who bears His name to hold 
His banner high at home and abroad. The 
present generation faces an unprecedented 
opportunity to glorify the precious name 
of Him who made a Christian's hope pos- 
sible for us, by extending the blessings of 
His gospel to those who know it not. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Finai. State of the Ungodly. Is 

Heli. Compatible With a 

Merciful God? 

^'What is to become of the wicked after 
death?^' is a question of universal interest. 
Man, left to himself and exercising what 
he terms his privilege of being a free 
thinker will naturally believe those things 
that are most favorable to himself. Thus 
it occurs that men find it easier to argue 
against hell than against Heaven and 
there are more people trying to prove 
there is no hell than there are who try to 
prove there is no Heaven. It is evidently 
true that in most cases where the doc- 
trine of eternal punishment is denied ^*the 
wish is the father of the faith.'' 

However free one may claim to be in 



THE COSMIC PLAN 103 

his thinking he is not justifiable in ignor- 
ing the facts that he finds in his way. 

It is everywhere recognized that there 
is a distinction between the moral lives of 
men. Right and wrong are terms said to 
be found in every language. Coextensive 
with the distinction between right and 
wrong is the judgment that wrong is ill 
deserving. Yet not all wrongs are pun- 
ished in this earthly life. Justice therefore 
demands another chance to measure out 
to each his due. 

Possibly some do not agree that not all 
wrongs are punished on earth. Let such 
be simply reminded of the innumerable 
instances of seduction in which the one 
party continues to enjoy the fellowship 
and esteem of his fellows, while the other, 
who is no more responsible and no more 
guilty than the former, is doomed to wear 



104 THE COSMIC PLAN 

the cofldemnation of her associates and to 
ever live in the shadow of her deed. 

Frequently the oppressor escapes the 
merited penalty of his deeds and lives in 
lordly opulence, while his victim is forced 
to a life of destitution and misery. If no 
future retribution were provided it would 
be badly needed in order to adjust the ine- 
qualities of this life. 

The reason most commonly relied upon 
to sustain the denials of hell and the one 
which seems most to allay the dread of 
its torture, is that God is too good to cre- 
ate a being (which is done necessarily 
without his consent) and then to send him 
to torment. This view finds credence 
with many because all must admit that 
God is good, yea infinitely good. But 
even this premise does not warrant such a 
deduction. For God does not send men to 



THE COSMIC PLAN 105 

hell at all. He merely permits the law of 
cause and effect to have its force in the 
destiny of the ungodly. The good and 
the bad gravitate toward Heaven and hell 
of their own affinity and as naturally as 
lead sinks in water and as cork is buoyed 
to the surface. 

The real issue is not whether it would 
be consistent to banish His creature to a 
place of suffering. But rather was it con- 
sistent for Him to endow man with the 
power of choice? The free agency of man 
is what makes hell possible. Over against 
man's depraved nature are set the con- 
straints of grace and he is allowed his 
choice. The soul that will not submit to 
God and His plans need not hope to par- 
take of His nature and disposition. A 
desolate, forsaken and isolated existence 
after death is the natural and normal re- 



106 THE COSMIC PLAN 

suit of a self-willed and lustful life. Such 
an one fiuds himself engrossed in the 
things of the world. When the world 
passes away or when he passes from it, he 
is separated from the object ot his affec- 
tions and finds it too late to form new at- 
tachments. God declares them judicially 
separated from Him and from the right- 
eous because they have chosen to be so 
separated in their lives. 

As the free agency of man has been 
cited as the condition that makes a future 
retribution possible, let its merits be ex- 
amined. 

Even man can make an automatic ma- 
chine but he can not give it life, nor a 
moral nature, nor the power of choice. 
The fact that Jehovah can and does endow 
the human family with all of these 
clearly bespeaks His infinite knowledge 



THE COSMIC PLAN 107 

and power. His original purpose to glo- 
rify Himself in man was involved in mak- 
ing him a free agent. 

If men were so constituted that they 
were compelled by their very nature to do 
the will of God there would be no honor 
to God in their deeds. But he who is left 
to his choice and voluntarily bows his will 
to the will of God, pays a holy homage to 
his Maker and greatlj^ glorifies Him in so 
doing. 

Therefore in making man a free agent 
Jehovah honored both Himself and crea- 
ture and made His purpose a possibility. 

The whole scheme is to benefit those 
who love and honor their Creator. All 
others are allowed merely to reap the nat- 
ural consequences of their conduct. Those 
who submit to the Divine Will and show 
by their lives that they want to become 



108 THE COSMIC PLAN 

more like their Maker are protected from 
further contact with evil after death by 
the banishment of all evil forces. An 
irreparable separation of the evil from the 
good is necessary to make Heaven secure. 
This is God's guarantee of a tranquil life 
for the saints in glory isolated from every 
possible disturbance by evil. *^A11 things 
work together for good to them that love 
God" — even the banishment of the un- 
godly. 

The nature of the retribution which 
the ungodly shall endure is a matter of 
minor importance. For if that were defi- 
nitely known no one could fortify himself 
against it. It may be safely asserted, 
however, that the intensity of the condi- 
tions will be proportionate to the degree 
of wickedness in the heart, after due 
allowance has been made for the differ- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 109 

ence in opportunity for knowing the divine 
will. This is essential to justice. 

The only hope of an evasion lies in 
God's plan of a complete escape thru the 
sacrifice of His Son. 



CHAPTER X. 
Duration of Future Punishment. 

There is an undercurrent of doubt 
among many about the duration of future 
punishment. Occasionally the current 
comes to the surface and an opportunity is 
afforded for analyzing- it. 

Some of the common objections to the 
doctrine of an endless hell are as follows : 

1. Endless torment is disproportionate 
to what sin deserves. 

2. Man is the victim of inherited de- 
pravity which largely mitigates his guilt. 

3. It is probable the punishment will 
produce penitence and pardon will be re- 
ceived. 

4. The Bible indicates that another 
chance will be given. I Peter 3:18-20; 
I Peter 4:6. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 111 

5. Some see a loophole in the word 
^ ^forever'', taking it to mean merely ^^age- 
long/' 

6. The last hope held forth is that a 
view of the Infinite God will transform all 
to His liking. 

As there is a semblance of credibility in 
each of these, let them be examined. 

1. Before one could be qualified for as- 
serting that an endless torture is out of 
proportion to what sin deserves it would 
be necessary for him to know the full 
effects of sin and to be free from prejudice 
in his judgment. 

A criminal could hardly be expected to 
be unbiased in his opinion of the sentence 
he is under. Only those who are under 
sentence of divine displeasure are ever 
heard to pronounce sin and its penalty to 
be out of proportion. All who have ac- 



112 THE COSMIC PLAN 

cepted God's plan of salvation are willing 
to risk His sense of justice to adjust the 
penalty of those who continue in their re- 
bellious state. Since His word contains 
for such the sentence of endless torment 
all but those upon whom it is passed ac- 
cept it as just because a just God has au- 
thorized it. 

The force of an evil influence set in 
motion by a wicked life will continue to 
operate and multiply as long as the world 
stands unless Jehovah should see fit to 
wipe it out as He did in time of the flood. 
One individual who lived in New York 
about a century ago had a posterity of 
criminals, vagabonds and lunatics num- 
bering several hundred with hardly a one 
who has benefitted humanity. Besides his 
lineal descendants, an unnumbered host 
has been poisoned by the taint of their 



THE COSMIC PLAN 113 

lives and they in turn have doubtless each 
multiplied the venom he received and 
started new lives of corrupt influences to 
curse and blight humanity thruout the 
coming years. To judge what would be 
a penalty commensurate with the influ- 
ence of such a life one would need divine 
discernment and prophetic wisdom with- 
out limit. 

The standard God uses to measure guilt 
is applied not merely to man's conduct, 
tho he allows evil conduct to produce its 
natural results, but he applies it also to 
the attitude of the heart. One of the nat- 
ural results of an evil practice is a 
more corrupted heart. Death seals the 
destiny. The righteous and wicked hearts 
continue in their respective attitudes after 
the death of the body. The angel told 
John not to seal the sayings of the proph- 



114 THE COSMIC PLAN 

ecy as he was not quite thru telling him 
about the final condition of things. ^^He 
that is unjust, let him be unjust still; acd 
he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; 
and he that is righteous, let him be right- 
eous still; and he that is holy, let him be 
holy still/' Rev. 22:11. Since the condi- 
tion that causes the spiritual separation 
and torture will be unending it appears 
reasonable and just that the separation 
and torture should also be unending. 

2. Man has inherited a depraved nat- 
ure for which he is not responsible. As 
this is the source of sin it is supposed to 
be extenuating enough to lighten the 
penalty of sin. 

If no escape from the penalty had been 
provided such reasoning might sound 
plausible. But a complete escape has been 
provided and the refusal to accept and 



THE COSMIC PLAN 115 

use that way cannot be laid at the door of 
one's ancestors. Besides the refuge that 
has been prepared, constraining forces are 
exerted on man to induce him to flee to it 
for safety. 

It should be well born in mind that it 
is not the inherited depravity that causes 
man's condemnation to eternal punish- 
ment. The atonement of Christ satisfied 
the justice of God for all original sin. 
This is believed to be the reason for the 
salvation of infants. The only evil in 
them is that which they inherit. They 
are not responsible for this. And it being 
atoned for in the death of Christ they are 
free from all sin. Hence an ample pro- 
vision has been made by the grace of God 
to insure justice to those who are not 
spared in this life to reach the ag,e of 



116 THE COSMIC PLAN 

choice and responsibility.* It would be a 
mere conjecture to say what else God does 
for them before death as they can give us 
no testimony and revelation is silent. 

The sin that sends the soul to hell is 
neither the inherited depravity which a 
man has nor the wicked conduct he is 
guilty of, but it is the rebellious and defi- 
ant condition of the heart which the Bible 
calls unbelief that causes him to go there. 
For his depraved and corrupt nature man 
is not responsible; but for refusing to be 
cleansed and have his nature changed 
when God offers to do it for him, he is re- 
sponsible. Those who refuse to honor 
Christ with a simple faith are left in their 
natural state and are allowed to bear the 
natural consequences of that state which 
is a continued separation from God. No 

*For case of heathen, see Chapter VIII. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 117 

code of justice could fail to endorse such 
dealings. 

The degree of torture to which each lost 
soul will be subjected will doubtless be 
determined by the deeds done in this life. 
The depraved nature inherent in all men 
is again to be reckoned with here but not 
to be taken as justifiable grounds. Be- 
cause while man\s nature inclines him to- 
ward evil this inclination is largely offset 
by the restraining influence of the divine 
Spirit. Even the unregenerated heart in 
the presence of temptation is influenced 
by the silent Monitor within, telling him 
not to yield. He who stifles this internal 
Guide by continued indulgence in evil is 
heaping up a retribution against himself 
for a future day and intensifying the tor- 
tures he must bear. 

3. Some think the punishment endur- 



118 THE COSMIC PLAN 

ed by those in perdition will produce pen- 
itence, and pardon will be received. 

The presumption that punishment be- 
gets penitence does not stand the test of 
human experience in this life and hence 
could not be expected to do so in the next. 
Men who are punished here for criminal 
conduct are led merely to regret the con- 
sequences of their deeds and are thereby 
deterred from repeating them. Their 
hearts are not changed by it from a love 
of wickedness to a love of righteousness. 

4. Two passages are quoted from the 
Bible to substantiate the belief that a gos- 
pel appeal is made to the lost after death 
and hence an opportunity for repentance 
and pardon will be presented to them. 
They are as follows: ^^For Christ also 
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the 
unjust, that He might bring us to God, 



THE COSMIC PLAN 119 

being put to death in the flesh, but quick- 
ened by the Spirit; by which he also 
went and preached unto the spirits in 
prison; which sometimes were disobedient, 
when once the loogsuffering of God waited 
in the days of Noah, while the ark was a 
preparing,'' etc. I. Pet. 3:18 20. ^^For 
this cause was the gospel preached also to 
them that are dead, that they might be 
judged according to men in the flesh, 
but live according to God in the spirit.'' 
I. Pet. 4:6. 

The first ^ Vhich" in the former passage 
refers to the ^ ^Spirit" and is intended to 
point out the fact that the Spirit which 
quickened Christ into a resurrection from 
the dead is the same Spirit by which he 
had preached in the days of Noah to those 
who are now in prison. The other passage 
is debarred by its syntax from meaning 



120 THE COSMIC PLAN 

the dead receive gospel appeals. Notice 
the tense of the two verbs ^'The gospel 
WAS preached also to them that ARE dead/' 
etc. That is to say it was preached dur- 
ing their life time to those who are now 
dead. 

If the Bible is to be looked to for a hope 
of release from torment its whole message 
on that subject should be heard. When 
that is considered in its entirety one can 
not doubt that it intends to teach that the 
doom of the ungodly is unending. 

5. Some say the word ^'forever'' used 
by the Bible to designate the duration of 
hell does not mean unending but merely 
^ ^age-long.'' From this they infer that 
after this ^^age'' the punishment will 
cease. 

It is said by those who claim to be able 
to trace the word thru its various usages 



THE COSMIC PLAN 121 

that exactly the same term is used by the 
Bible in two places to specify the duration 
of God's own being; fifteen times of the 
life of the believer and four times of future 
punishment. No one thinks of limiting 
the duration specified in the first seven- 
teen uses of the word. Then why do so 
in the other four? The explanation is 
that the only hope of a release is the one 
born of a wish and it is seeking legitimate 
ground to stand on. If the word ^^forever'^ 
as applied to the retribution of the wicked 
did not mean any specified time at 
all the Bible uses a plenty of phrases 
in speaking of its duration to teach us 
that it shall never end. See Mark 9:4348. 
^^ — It is better for thee to enter into life 
maimed, than having two hands to go 
into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched: where the worm diethnot/' etc. 



1 



122 THE COSMIC PLAN 

6. Some have ventured to believe that 
when the ungodly shall see Him as He is, 
even tho they be in torment, they will be 
constrained to love Him and will there- 
fore repent of their wickedness and re- 
bellion. 

There is nothing in the Bible to indi- 
cate that the unregenerated will ever see 
Him in His beauty and glory. Only ^*the 
pure in heart^' are promised that privilege. 
Every reference to seeing Him is ad- 
dressed to Christians. Even in the Judg- 
ment, when all shall stand before Him, 
He will doubtless be veiled from the view 
of His enemies and appear to them only 
in the form of an angel. 

Since no objection yet found seems ten- 
able, it appears but reasonable and just 
that the ungodly must continue to reap 
their retribution thruout the endless ages 



THE COSMIC PLAN 123 

of the future world. But none need do 
this except by their own volition. Ample 
provision has been made for a complete 
escape for all who will conform to God's 
plan. Those who, in the light of their 
own liberty of choice, run counter to the 
divine plan and refuse to bow to the su- 
preme will of the universe need expect to 
be left alone and to bear the inevitable 
results of their own nature and practice. 



CHAPTER XL 

Immortality and Suggested Proba- 
bilities OF Heaven. 

Positive proof of immortality cannot be 
produced. Science is silent on the ques- 
tion and will doubtless remain so. But it 
has consistently deduced some conclusions 
analogous to it. One is the indestructi- 
bility of matter. 

Immortality and annihilation are the 
only alternatives. The spirit of man must 
either continue its life in some form or 
cease at some time. Objective evidence 
leads only to the establishment of a prob- 
ability. This probability is favorable to 
immortality. 

Subjective reasons confirm this proba- 
bility and are conclusive enough to enable 
the mind to reach a settled conviction. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 125 

The nature of these reasons is such that, 
tho they satisfy the individual who is con- 
scious of them, they have no force with 
others to whom he may try to present 
them objectively. 

A belief in the immortality of the soul 
is so nearly universal that it must be re- 
garded as a normal condition of the human 
mind, and those who disbelieve it are 
abnormal just as the eye that cannot see 
is abnormal. 

Those who deny this doctrine are di- 
vided among themselves about how it 
originated. 

Some would have us think that it arose 
from the speculations of serious thinkers 
in some remote period of time and that 
they taught it to console the oppressed by 
extending the hope of a life of liberty 
after death and to deter criminals with a 



126 THE COSMIC PLAN 

fear of future retribution. But this idea 
itself is only a vague conjecture and pro- 
vides no explanation of the widespread 
acceptance of the doctrine. The power of 
a superior mind to force its faith on a 
weaker one might explain some few indi- 
vidual cases. If immortality is not an 
essential quality of the soul what is there 
in man that makes men of superior minds 
unable to resist the idea? 

Another class of those who disbelieve 
this doctrine claim that it originated with 
the superstitions of the ignorant. But 
they have more to explain than the others. 

A belief in a life beyond the grave is a 
prerequisite to superstition. The doctrine 
of immortality is rather the mother of 
superstition than its child. The invisible 
spirits that haunt the minds of the super- 
stitious would be banished at once if their 



THE COSMIC PLAN 127 

belief in the future life could be de- 
stroyed. Superstition is too vague and 
indefinite a force to have ever conceived 
so sublime an idea as immortality. But 
immortality carries attendant ideas of ac- 
tivities engaged in by the departed spirits 
and this suggests to the minds of the 
ignorant some frightful thoughts. 

If this doctrine arose from the ignorant, 
what makes it appeal to the learned? 
With but few exceptions the wisest men 
of every age in all historic times have 
been ardent advocates of it. Socrates and 
Sir Isaac Newton and hundreds of others 
of equal eminence together with countless 
millions whose minds have been trained 
to soar above superstition could not shake 
ojBf the conviction that the soul of man 
shall never die. The care with which the 
ancient Egyptians prepared the bodies of 



128 THE COSMIC PLAN 

their dead and preserved them iu endur- 
ing tombs bears lasting testimony to their 
belief in another life after this. A faith 
in the same idea prompted the ignor<ii)t 
Indian to bury with his comrade his bow 
and arrow for use in the ^^happy hunting 
ground. '^ Why does the idea grasp with 
a deathless grip on men of every degree 
of intelligence in all lands and in all ages? 
Only one explanation is possible, that is 
the one found in the Bible. Man's Cre- 
ator breathed into him the breath of life 
thus imparting to him a divine life. The 
soul of man is intuitively conscious ot this 
divine life and feels the immortal quality. 
Hence the doctrine finds a ready response 
in every normal person. 

It is altogether probable that an indi- 
vidual, so isolated from such teaching as 
to never have it suggested by his fellow- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 129 

man, would as iustinctively think of it 
and as intuitively believe in it as a migra- 
tory bird thinks of another clime and mi- 
grates to it without being led by others to 
do so. 

Immortality alone gives life a meaning. 
Tho man is the climax of creation, his 
earthly life is futile and vain if it is not 
the vestibule to eternity. Character, how- 
ever refined it may become by affliction or 
otherwise, is not a sufficient end in itself 
if this life is all. 

Paul staked his hope of immortality on 
the resurrection of Christ. ^^If there be 
no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ 
not risen.'' ^'If Christ be not risen, then 
our preaching is vain.'' I Cor. 15:13,14. 
**If in this life only we have hope in 
Christ we are of all men most miserable." 
I Cor. 15:19. 



130 THE COSMIC PLAN 

The resurrection of Christ is as well 
attested as any historical fact of the cent- 
ury in which it occurred. Neither friend 
nor foe can explain the empty tomb with- 
out acknowledging His victory over death. 
However, His resurrection was not an ex- 
ception to human experience, but only the 
first fruits. He was a type of what we 
shall be. The first ripe heads of wheat 
are pulled and kept not so much for their 
intrinsic value but as a sample of what 
the harvest will be. All the enemies of 
man were to be conquered and death was 
the last one. We are to sorrow not as 
those who have no hope. No, the grave 
is not the end. It has lost its horrors for 
those who follow in the wake of Him who 
passed thru it and rose as its victor. His 
followers will be the great harvest of 



THE COSMIC PLAN 131 

which He, the resurrected Savior, is the 
first fruit. 

What kind of bodies shall we have after 
the resurrection? This question arises 
more often from perplexity than from 
doubt. Reason gives no conclusive an- 
swer and revelation is indefinite. Analo- 
gies from nature give but little light. As 
the bodies of birds are adapted to the air, 
and those of fish to the water, our spirit- 
ual bodies will no doubt be adapted to the 
spirit world; not limited by time or space 
any more than the mind is limited by 
them when in a dream. They will doubt- 
less be entirely free from the influence of 
all material things. As the oak is not 
like the acorn, tho its concentrated 
strength takes the form of an acorn, so, we 
are told, the resurrected bodies will not be 
the same as those that are buried, tho they 



132 THE COSMIC PLAN 

will spring from them. Alany deformed 
and crippled people will doubtless go to 
Heaven, but no one believes they will be 
deformed or crippled when they get there. 

Christ told the Sadducees there would 
be neither marriage nor giving in mar- 
riage in the resurrection, but we would 
be as the angels. Again, the Bible tells 
us we shall be like Christ. This perhaps 
meant in character, but may have meant 
in body as well. , After He rose from the 
dead He entered a room with closed doors 
and disappeared as mysteriously. He also 
ate fish with His disciples by the sea. 
These facts show on the one hand that 
His body was not subject to the power of 
material things, and on the other that 
material things could be handled by it. 

Being assured by the Holy Writ that 
'^aswe have borne the image of the earth- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 133 

ly, we shall also bear the image of the 
heavenly^' (I Cor. 15:49) we therefore 
have a hope most glorious. The body of 
the saint is buried a natural body, in cor- 
ruption, in dishonor, and in weakness. 
But it is raised a spiritual body in incor- 
ruption, in glory, and in power. 

What kind of place must Heaven be if 
it is to be a suitable home for immortal 
souls, bearing the image of their Maker 
and clad in spiritual bodies? It must ex- 
ceed the fondest imagination the human 
mind can contrive. Paul was allowed a 
glimpse into it once and said it far sur- 
passed the fondest hopes of the human 
heart. 

Nearly all the terms used in the Bible 
to describe Heaven are negative. Peter 
said it is ^^An inheritance incorruptible, 
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, re- 



134 THE COSMIC PLAN 

served in Heaven for you^\ I Peter 1:4. 
Other negative terms usually associated 
with it are, no sin, no end, no pain or 
anxiety, but peace and rest. If this were 
all it would be enough to attune every 
soul to the angelic song of deliverance, 
but this is not all. God will be there 
with His Son, our Savior. Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, will be there, together 
with the great multitude from the four 
winds of the earth who have washed their 
robes in the blood of the Lamb. These 
will all be united in their praise to the 
great God whom they will delight to 
honor, and brotherly love will be com- 
plete. 

The location of Heaven is of no impor- 
tance to us, but nearly every one has some 
concern about it. It is usually thot of as 
being above us. But that is very indefi- 



THE COSMIC PLAN 135 

nite. What is above us in the day time is 
beneath us at night. The idea of its being 
above us doubtless originated from the 
fact that the sky above is sometimes 
spoken of as the heavens. Also purity, 
perfection, and their kindred thots are re- 
ferred to as being above their opposites. 
This more inclines people to think of 
Heaven as being above. 

Some have ventured to suggest that the 
earth will be transformed into a blissful 
abode for the redeemed after the resurrec- 
tion, Tho no one knows this to be true, 
it should be regarded as a possibility. 
The earth is undergoing a refining process 
and has been ever since man has known 
it. The fire which prophecy says shall 
some day burn it may possibly prove to be 
the culmination of such a process and 



136 THE COSMIC PLAN 

make it a fit habitation for the immortal 
home of the redeemed. 

Tho this theory appeals to the imagina- 
tion it has the objectionable feature of in- 
clining one to debase his thots of the glory 
world. It may or may not be true. 

Whatever location Heaven may have 
cannot detract from the glory it contains 
nor from the joy its inhabitants will ex- 
perience. 

Whether you prefer to think ot Heaven 
as a ^^better country'^ or a ^^City who§e 
builder and maker is God/' it matters not. 
Such prophecies will no doubt be fulfilled 
in a way that will transcend every thot 
they have suggested and yet be true to 
them. 

The Scriptures speak of the Celestial 
City as having streets of gold, gates of 
pearl, and walls of precious stones. Such 



THE COSMIC PLAN 137 

language in this connection admits of a 
double interpretation. It may be intended 
to portray the grandeur and glory of 
Heaven and at the same time teach us 
that the earthly things considered here as 
having most precious value will there be 
regarded as next to worthless and fit only 
for a menial use. Precious stones, here 
counted rare, will there be counted only 
worthy of being used as a wall; something 
really in the way, a barrier surrounding 
the real treasure. Tho now we admire 
pearls for their beauty, we will then be 
glad to see them pushed aside to open the 
way for our entrance into things more 
precious than pearls. Gold, tho highly 
prized and treasured here, will there be 
trampled upon in the streets by the happy 
pilgrims as they journey in sweet satis- 
faction to the mansions prepared for them^ 



138 THE COSMIC PLAN 

or as they march in ecstatic joy before 
the great white throne. 

Free from sin and temptation, fully con- 
scious of a complete forgiveness, perpetu- 
ally pure, bearing the image of Him who 
is the embodiment of all completeness, 
the sainted hosts will stand in the sacred 
presence of the very God of all the world, 
receiving His tokens of approval and re- 
sponding with pure praise in shouts, songs 
and prayers. As the sainted souls view 
the pierced hands and feet of the blessed 
Savior, their hearts will spontaneously 
burst into exultant joy and such love as 
earth but little knows will find sweet 
ways of expressing the deep gratitude be- 
fore but partly felt. The fellowship of 
the saints will be complete; the will of 
God perfectly obeyed; the love of Christ 
will have a free flow in every heart. Such 



THE COSMIC PLAN 139 

will continue thruout eternity. No dread 
of termination or fear of separation, ever 
rejoicing in the inspiration of His con- 
scious presence. 

^* Then we can bathe our weary souls in 

seas of heavenly rest, 
And not a wave of trouble roll across our 

peaceful breast.'' 

This condition is a fitting climax to 
conclude the great Cosmic Plan on which 
the whole scheme was laid. Immortal 
bliss for the creature and unsullied and 
eternal glory for the Creator, to whom be 
honor henceforth, now, and forever. 



SUMMARY. 

The origiu of the world and its inhabi- 
tants is the subject of much thot and dis- 
cussion; but the purpose lor which they 
were made seems not to engage the minds 
of so many. 

The only explanation of the order of 
things as we find them is the Cosmic Plan 
of the Creator for working out the pur- 
pose for which the whole was designed. 
If an observer has a knowledge of the 
general plan and purpose the workman 
has in view, he can hope to better under- 
stand and appreciate the workman^s minor 
movements and the details of his work. 
Altho the finite mind cannot comprehend 
the infinite things of God, enough has 
been made known to us in various ways 
to indicate His object and to help under- 
stand His plan. 



THE COSMIC PLAN 141 

Here are three conclusions to which the 
discussions of this volume naturally lead 
and which they seem to justify : 

I. God made the world and all it con- 
tains, for His glory. 

II. Man, who is the acme of His cre- 
ative work, is the chief object of His care 
and the main instrumentality for accom- 
plishing His creative purpose. 

III. The glory of God and the good of 
man are so related that they blend into 
one object in the case of each individual 
who yields himself to the divine will. 

These original aims are sustained by 
the following provisions which constitute 
the Cosmic Plan : 

1. Religious instinct is universal. 
This insures the universal acknowledge- 
ment of a Superior Being. 

2. Revelations (thru the Son, the 



142 THE COSMIC PLAN 

Spirit, the inspired Word and thru na- 
ture) increase man's power and inclina- 
tion to honor God. 

3. Salvation conditioned on faith in 
His Son. No terms conceivable by man 
could honor God so much as this. 

4. Laws of Christian conduct are so 
constructed that a conformity to them de- 
velops His likeness in us. 

5. Chastening, which is His method 
of converting natural sequences into a 
process of purifying and developing His 
children, enables them to see Him more 
clearly and love Him more dearly. 

6. Breaking down all temporal limita- 
tions to His Kingdom extends its bless- 
ings to more people and multiplies His 
followers. 

7. Immortality insures the permanence 
of the honor ascribed to Him, and at the 



THE COSMIC PLAN 148 

same time provides opportunity for those 
who comply with His plan to receive a 
gift worthy of the Supreme Giver, and 
for those who do not to bear unending 
testimony to the inexorableness of His 
decrees. 



THE END. 



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